Oath Sworn - K.N. Banet Page 0,43
her just a small amount. I got what I wanted. Her big eyes popped open, looking up at me. I exhaled a terrified breath, hugging her close as the tears started immediately. She sobbed into my shirt, clinging to me like her life depended on it. “It’s okay, baby girl,” I whispered, rubbing the top of her head. “It’s okay.”
“There were monsters. They tried to take me away again. They killed Daddy and Richard and Landon. I didn’t know what to do. I was so scared. You weren’t there!” She was shaking like a leaf. “There was so much blood an-and I didn’t know how to stop it!”
“Shh.” I could only hold her as she told me what her nightmares had brought.
“There was roaring and howls. It was so scary, Jacky.”
“I bet it was, but it’s not real. The nightmares aren’t real, Carey. I promise.”
“You’ll never let them take me, right? You’ll keep me safe?”
“I’m doing everything in my power to keep you safe. I promise. I would die before I let them have you.” I meant every word with a conviction that should have scared me. I should have been terrified of what I had just said, but I wasn’t. Nothing could have Carey and I wouldn’t let anything else give her new nightmares. She obviously had enough. One was one too many.
I consoled her, the tears pricking my own eyes again. After this was long over, she wasn’t going to be the only girl in the room with nightmares, that was certain. There was blood on my hands now that had never been there before, and the only reason I was holding it together was because she needed me to be strong. It was her vulnerability, her need, that made my spine steel to all the things this was throwing at both of us. As she cried herself back to sleep, wrapped in my arms, I knew there would come a moment when I didn’t need to be the strongest person in the room anymore. I was not looking forward to that moment.
As dawn approached, I knew why werecats actively avoided getting roped into Duty and our place in the world. Why we really didn’t advertise where we were or educate people. If some vampire didn’t know the Law and what it meant for werecats, it wasn’t our business to fix. Out of sight, out of mind.
Every moment I grew more attached thanks to my instincts and every moment I knew the end was drawing nearer. She was long asleep again when I stepped out of the room, pulling my own cell phone from my pocket.
I dialed a number, my heart pounding.
“Daughter. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Hasan’s voice was like honey, always pulling me in and trying to make me feel cherished and loved. I didn’t trust it, but I let it make me feel a little better just for a second before telling him why I was calling.
“I was called to Duty,” I whispered, leaning on the door. Behind me, inside the room, she was asleep, dreaming hopefully of her family and how much fun they would have together again.
“Explain,” he demanded, the honey gone, only steel left in its place.
I did as he wanted, telling him about the last three days. I started with the facts. The who, the what, the where. Ish. I didn’t tell him where I was at the motel, nor about the fairy gift. Only that Carey and I had been driven further into hiding thanks to an attack by a small hunting pack.
He snarled as I explained I took a hit from a silver bullet and that I was recovering slowly. He sighed when I reached the end. “There’s nothing I can do without breaking the Law,” he informed me gently. “As much as I hate it…”
“I know. You taught me the Law pretty damn well, Hasan. No, I wanted to talk to you about something more personal. How do you deal with it? How does anyone expect a werecat to let go when it’s over?”
“You have it harder than most. A minor brings out all of your protective instincts, but also your parental ones. Most of the time, it’s not children. Adults who accidentally worked for the wrong supernatural, who crossed someone else. Normally, they aren’t even targets, it’s just an added measure of safety. Things this big were common back when the Laws were new, but in the last two to three hundred years? Practically unheard